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SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Ben Braun’s propensity for a marshmallow preconference schedule may finally cost him his job as the Cal men’s basketball coach.
The Pac-10 Conference is regarded as the best basketball conference in the country this season. Because the conference has a complete round-robin, teams have been beating up on each other, so there’s been speculation that a team that finishes below .500 in the conference could still make the NCAA Tournament.
Almost certainly, the Bears will finish below .500. They’re at 6-8 now with home games against Washington State and Washington this week and road games against UCLA and Southern Cal next week. Of the four, only Washington is below them in the standings.
So, an 8-10 record is probably the best the Bears can reach. That won’t be good enough. The only game that can boost their standing in the eyes of the tournament selection committee is an earlier win over Washington State on the road, and that’s more than counterbalanced by the weak preconference schedule.
That below-.500 conference record will be Braun’s third in the last four years, and it’s a reflection of Braun’s coaching and recruiting. In the last six years, Arizona leads in recruiting players who were rated in the five-star category as preps with eight. Cal has only one. UCLA leads in four-star recruits with 13. Cal has nine. In three-star recruiting, Arizona State leads with 19, Cal has nine, seventh-best in the conference.
The failures of the Cal men are in stark contrast to the women’s team, coached by Joan Boyle, who took a team that was at rock bottom and has brought it almost to parity with Stanford, which has long dominated the conference. Saturday’s 60-58 loss was a thrilling game, witnessed by more than 10,500 fans, the largest turnout ever for a Pac-10 women’s game.
Meanwhile, attendance has been very disappointing for the men this season, with the exception of a sellout for the UCLA game.
Braun was a breath of fresh air when he replaced Todd Bozeman, who had run a recruiting program that violated so many NCAA rules that Cal was put on probation.
He was also a better coach then because he listened to his assistants and his players. No longer.
In an earlier column, I noted that his players look confused when they come out of sideline huddles. Cal’s best player, Ryan Anderson, commented after the Bears lost a close game, “We didn’t know what we were doing out there.”
There’s a reason for that. A source close to the players told me that one player had questioned Braun’s strategy in a sideline huddle. “Shut up!” Braun responded. No player has spoken up since.
Braun can be ingratiating when he’s talking to people who can help him, usually those who are deep-pocket alums. He’s kept his job because of their support. But recent conversations have convinced me that the alumni support has eroded, and Braun can no longer count on that to keep him in place. It would cost money to buy out Braun’s contract, but it may cost even more in declining ticket sales if he stays on.
Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour made a great decision with Boyle. Now, she needs to replace Braun and bring in a coach who can get Cal men back into serious contention in the Pac-10 — and the NCAA Tournament.
Glenn Dickey has been covering Bay Area sports since 1963 and also writes on www.GlennDickey.com. E-mail him at glenndickey@hotmail.com.
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Phil in Lafayette said:
There's no doubt Braun needs to go. He has not recruited nearly as well as some of the other PAC 10 coaches, he's lost players to transfers, some have quit and almost all the good ones go pro ASAP. What he's not done is keep a cohesive unit together and made it improve from one year to the next. In fact, his best players have seemed not to progress. Devon Hardin being a case in point. With Devon, his draft prospects were better after being hurt last year than they are now coming off a lacklustre year where he was outplayed by almost every other center in the league. Now, the question is: Who does Cal hire? Randy Bennett of St. Mary's or, if possible, Mike Montgomery are my two favorite choices.
7 agree | 3 disagree
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Sam in Reno said:
I hope you are right on this. The basketball program is in a shambles. Braun is a bully and so stuck in his ways that he refuses to see what is going on with his own team. Cal players always look nervous and tentative on the floor. They are constantly looking at Braun for approval.No one looks like they are enjoying the game. They almost look relieved when they loose a lead. The constant transfers and defections from the program indicate how unpopular Braun is with players. I hope Sandy pulls the trigger this week.
9 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Cal played better this year when Devon Hardin did not play. We beat both Washington schools on the road without him, and lost to both of them with him. But for a horrible non-call at the end of the game, we also beat UCLA without him. Why? A large part of the reason is that Braun has never utilized his big men well. Another reason is that Hardin often does not hustle. Perhaps he's lost interest.
7 agree | 2 disagree
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Sam in Reno said:
Anyone who watches Cal basketball can see what is happening. In the recent loss to WSU Cal, did not play defense and did not play offense. On defense they failed to fight through screens and did not block out on the boards. On offense they stood aroud the perimeter waiting to take three point shots.This team clearly has given up on Braun. It is about time the school did too. Sandy pull the trigger, it is time for a change.
30 agree | 24 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
It could be worse. Sandy Barbour could have inherited the mess, which is the USF mens basketball program. Sincerely, Porter L. Baymon
22 agree | 25 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This is incredibly coincidental. I was just sharing with a friend how I'm planning on dropping my season tickets which I've had for 13 years because the seats are cheaper and better if you show up on game day. Besides, the quality is bad enough now that you don't actually want to show up on any given game day any more. Sorry Ben. Time is up. It was fun while it lasted.
35 agree | 24 disagree
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Sam in Reno said:
Well said Glenn. Braun should have been fired several years ago. I do not know what the "wealthy alumni supporters" see in him. Perhaps he kisses their _ss very well. His teams constantly underwhelm me with their play. Sometimes it appears they merely go through the motions because Ben said so. It is time for a change.
33 agree | 30 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Guys such as Omar Wilkes and Shantay Legans sum up Braun's legacy. Players simply don't like him. Does the name Donte Smith ring a bell? This was a true talent who rarely played after his freshman year, reportedly due to a rift between he and Braun. Recruiting Leon Powe saved his job, but the increased ticket prices that accompanied the heralded player's arrival never payed dividends for fans. We enjoyed a couple of great regular seasons with Shipp, Whethers, Hughes, etc. but have endured losing campaigns with far more talent. Our non-conference record is impressive only if you don't consider our competition. Alaska, Jackson State, and Nicholls State don't really prepare players for our PAC-10 opponents. I agree with Dickey, Braun should go.
20 agree | 12 disagree
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Golden Bear said:
My son and I have been to a couple of father/son Hoops camps at Cal. I supported Braun during those years not for his coaching but because of the excellent people on his staff. Alas, they are all gone as of 2 years ago. What impressed me during the hours spent at camp was how the players of demonstrated that they did not respect Braun. This cycle continues every year and we see too many players regress (Midgely his senior season and most of our Fwds & Centers) Sandy, out with BB and ask Mike Montgomery to PLEASE come to Cal. Bleeding & Blue, Golden Bear
44 agree | 13 disagree
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not me said:
I rarely agree with Dickey, but I do on this. Braun is a very good defensive coach but possibly the worst offensive coach in the nation. (Sorry Rick Majerus, I think Braun could have gotten StL down to to 15 points.) So many players do not improve offensively during their time at Cal, and some even regressed (Amit Tamir comes to mind). He's basically the terrible step brother of Ben Howland. I'd hire him to coach my team's defense, but not as a head coach.
41 agree | 13 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Highway robbery. How Ben gets paid as much as he does with this kind of product & results is borderline criminal. Run with it while you can Ben because no serious D-1A program will not hire you & it's the mid majors if not worse in your future. If you had any semblance of integrity you would restructure your contract or resign instead of sticking it '$$$' to a school that has more than fairly compensated for your poor results. Your closed environment, near media black out, avg to poor grad rates, transfers, & cup cake OOC schedules, do not hide the visible tragedy that has become Cal men's hoops coach fraud. The empty seats & apathy grows. Just to remind Ben, we don't like you & haven't for a long time. The day you leave Cal will be a happy one for Cal hoop fans.
54 agree | 15 disagree
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Phil in Lafayette said:
Right now the problem is that Braun doesn't get good players to perform. What's worse lies ahead. Given his growing reputation as a petty dictator, the pipeline of good players will soon run dry. Then we'll have poor players being coached badly.
47 agree | 16 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
more than one grumble of "braun must go" was heard after saturdays loss to AZ.. 11 years of this dude... i wanted him gone ages ago.. the thing is he has done just enough right to keep his job.. NIT champs, some good recruiting.. but i think and hope his fate is sealled... probably was on Saturday.. this team had a chance to make some noise this year and surprise opponents.. Braun has coached himself out of a job.. i hope.. can anyone explain why Boykin was on the bench the final minutes against AZ?? that killed me.. a gamer of a player standing aside as cheerleader while useless Vierneisel does nothing on court.. out with thee Ben!!!
41 agree | 16 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Great article, yet so obvious. Braun is even worse than the Oregon State coach fired today, how telling. He has absolutely no idea how to run an offense and this has been going on for years. His constant excuses are beyond tiresome. Calling Braun mediocre is an overstatement, he is awful and nobody who knows basketball will tell you anything different. As a Cal alumnus, I refuse to support the hoops program until Braun is gone.
42 agree | 16 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Notice how Omar's "great opportunities" never happened. That was Ben's cover story for why Omar left. Omar left the team without using his last year of eligibility and even left his kid brother behind because he hated playing for Braun. That is how the team feels about Ben -- it's so bad that some just don't even want to play for him anymore. And after being quiet and protecting him in their comments --now Ben calls them out in the press? You can be sure, every player on the team would be thrilled if Ben got fired.
18 agree | 16 disagree
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John, Lafayette said:
It's a shame too, because there is a huge reservoir of support for Cal basketball. There is no comparison with what they are paying this guy and his overall record.
44 agree | 18 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
When you look up "mediocrity" in the dictionary......you see a little stencil photo of Ben Braun. Seriously though, Cal's record has consistently been in the mid to low range of the Pac10 for YEARS.
44 agree | 22 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Player developement does not happen under Braun. DeVon Hardin is the same player he was as a freshman. He takes delight in blocking shots into the fifteenth row when he should be spoiling the shot and starting a fastbreak in the opposite direction. He has no offenseive game except the dunk( which he occasionally misses).The thing that really holds Cal back is the lack of a point guard. Ayinde Ubaka filled that role nicely, it is a tribute to Ayinde that he put up with Braun for four years.There is no point guard on the current roster who can get the ball into the talented sing men like Anderson and Christopher.
45 agree | 15 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Glenn, I could not agree more. Braun should have been fired several years ago. I realize he runs a clean program and has personally donated to the school, but he is not getting the job done. He has good players but they consistently underperform. He also has a large number of players who leave the program. It was not surprising to me that Omar Wilkes decided not to play his last year. The players look confused and aprehensive on the floor. It is time for a change.
52 agree | 16 disagree
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